Outcasts
by Steefwaterbutter
Summary: Sequel to Here Be Dragons. A year passes, and Spirit decides to returns to Berk, only to find that a storm is brewing. The dragons have fled and people are vanishing into thin air. A Nightmare King has arisen, bringing with him a darkness like never before. The world's only hope lies in four friends. But they are not heros. They are outcasts. 5-way crossover. Full summary inside.
1. Prolouge: The Nightmare's Beginning

Summary:

_Sequel to Here Be Dragons._

_A year has passed, and tragedy strikes in Spirit's homeland. The stallion flees to Berk, only to find that a storm is brewing. The dragons have fled and people are vanishing into thin air. A Nightmare King has arisen, bringing with him a darkness like never before. The world's only hope lies in four friends. However, they are not heroes. They are outcasts._

_Crossover between_ _How to Train Your Dragon, Spirit, Frozen, Rise of the Guardians and Wreck-it Ralph. AU of Wreck-it Ralph, and Rise of the Guardians._

Chapter "Soundtrack": Passion of Victory_ by Future World Music_

* * *

When the Nightmares first came, some said it felt like the beginning of the end. And in a way, it was, for it marked the beginning of dark and desperate time. A time where fear and nightmares would swallow light and hope, a time when heros would be few.

No one knew where the sand horses came from, or what they wanted. No one, except the one who had given the Nightmares form, the one who had shaped them from the sand and breathed fear into their very existence. The Nameless One.

He had no parents, no family, and, it seemed, no identity. The people in the village called him Kozomo, but that was where the bond stopped. To them, he might has well have been invisible. That was why, not too longer he was old enough to realize what they thought of him, he left.

From that day forth, Kozomo became a wanderer. He traveled over hill and dale, fueled by his hatred of being treated like an outcast, and the desire to be seen, to be remembered. He swore that one day he would do something that would give him a name people would speak in hushed tones of fear and respect.

That is why he entered the cave. Others might have passed by without a second glance, but Kozomo was not like other people. He felt drawn to the darkness that dripped from the stalagmites hanging on the ceiling, from the cold that radiated from the puddles on the floor. He breathed in the dark, the cold, the _fear_, and entered.

At first their was nothing but darkness. Then, as Kozomo narrowed his eyes, he began to make out a faint blue glow. He continued forward, then stopped and stared.

A narrow, jagged path stretched before him. On either side it dropped off, revealing a seemingly bottomless chasm. Lining the edges were upright torches, each bearing single a bright blue flame. They illuminated the pathway, showing that four red crescents had been painted on the floor. Kozomo recognized them as "blood moons", and remembered one night when the moon had first disappeared, then had reappeared, covered in red.

Kozomo walked quickly down the path, his bare feet striking against the rock and echoing in the silence. It seemed like hours passed before he reached the end of the pathlway.

He stopped again, and this time when he looked, his eyes became like chips of ice.

"How dare you," he hissed. "How dare you."

A large, perfectly smooth sheet of black stretched out before him, reflecting thousands of tiny stars that hung near the cavern's ceiling. As Kozomo leaned over, it felt as though someone had gathered all his worst nightmares and was now grinding them in his face. He had no reflection. The stars, the torches, even his walking stick shone as clear as day in the black stone, but he, the Nameless One, could not be seen.

The cave was completely silent, yet Kozomo could still hear the voices screaming, _You are no one. Nobody. You have no identity, will always and forever be... invisible._

"No!" the Nameless One shrieked over and over, sinking down and slamming his hands on the floor. His breathing grew ragged, and his eyes stared at the mirror with a ferocity like never before. "_No!_"

Time passed. The Nameless One, closed his eyes, opening them with a cold, icy determination. He rose to his feet, his fists clenched, and with one stride, stepped on the stone.

"I will be remembered," he vowed. "I will be _feared. _They will speak my name with awe and respect, the name of the _Nightmare King._"

And he slammed his foot onto the black rock, cracking its flawless surface.


	2. Chapter 1: Flight in the Night

**A/N: I would recommend listening to "Guardians at the Gate" by Automachine while reading this chapter. :)**

* * *

_The dragons were fleeing. It wasn't like the last time, where they had all left at once and returned a few weeks later. No, it was different this time. They seemed to be growing uneasy, more skittish, almost. As the weeks went by, they flew off, always in groups of three or four, never less, never more. They left, and did not come back. Their numbers dwindled until only Stormly, Meatlug, Hookfang, Barf, Belch, and Toothless left. All other dragons had fled, like rats leaving a sinking ship._

* * *

Hiccup yelped as his body smacked into the floor. His eyes flew open, darting about the small room. His hands were clenched so tightly he had left marks on this palms, and his body was covered in sweat. He sucked in huge gasps of air feeling like he had run a race against a Night Fury. It took him a second to realize what had happened. The nightmares had returned. The terrors that confronted him almost every time he closed his eyes. They were getting worse. The teenage boy could never remember them, only a vauge sensation of being chased. Hiccup slowly at up and wrapped his arms around himself, trembling.

As he sat there, leaning against the frame of his bed, a large black dragon came quietly over and nudged him, then settled himself beside Hiccup. _Another nightmare?_ he seemed to ask.

"I-I'm okay, Toothless. I-it w-w-was just-t a dream," Hiccup whispered, then realized how hoarse his voice was. He must of been screaming. Hiccup took a shuddering breath, and stroked Toothless, hoping to calm himself.

For a second he wondered how his dad hadn't woken up, then remembered. Stoick had left with some of his men on a trip to meet up with the fellow tribes about a week ago, leaving Spitelout in charge. The night he left was the night the nightmares started.

Hiccup grabbed the edge of the bedpost and heaved himself up, then threw the blanket back on and clambered on top, looking out the skylight at the twinkling stars. Toothless gave him a concered glance, then settled himself back on his rock, but kept his eyes open, unblinking.

Hiccup tried to relax, but his muscles remained tense, and he kept jerking slightly at every little sound. He tried to let his mind wander, but it kept coming back to the forgotten dream. What had terrified him so much? Why was he running? What was chasing him?

Finally he swung his legs over the side of the bed, letting out a groan of frustration as he rubbed at his eyes. Toothless raised his head to look at him, and Hiccup gave him a small grin.

"Since I see you can't sleep either, howabout we take a little midnight flight together?" he asked the dragon.

Toothless imitated him by lifting his own lips in a grin, before letting out a purr.

* * *

Hiccup had almost forgotten how beautiful the island could be at night. The village spread out beneith him, slumbering under a peaceful blanket of darkness. Stars clustered in the moonless sky, their relections causing the ocean to sparkle.

As Hiccup felt the tension release, he lay back across the dragon's back, once more looking up at the sky. He was so used to riding Toothless that he barely even thought about using the foot petal glided, his wings almost touching the water, as Hiccup pointed out stars to the dragon, and told him their names.

After a few minutes of listening to Toothless' wingbeats, Hiccup sat up, feeling refreshed and energized.

"What do you think, bud? Should we go a little faster?"

Toothless gave a half-roar of agreement, and shot forward when Hiccup pressed down the foot pedal. The Night Fury twisted and dived, zooming around rock columns and climing into the air. Hiccup whooped loudly, feeling the adrenalin rush through his body. The wind rushed past him, and Hiccup felt breathless, as he could only feel when he was on a dragon's back.

Suddenly, Toothless threw his wings forward in and effort to slow down, and Hiccup was almost hurtled onto the dragon's head.

"What is it?" Hiccup whispered, but the dragon growled at him, as if telling him to be silent. The Night Fury hovered, swinging his head back and forth and growling slightly. Hiccup looked too, but all he could see was the flowing waves beneith them. A gentle breeze shivered through the air, but he could hear nothing else.

He tried to urg Toothless forward again, but the dragon only growled again. Hiccup sighed inwardly and ran a hand through his hair, casting his eyes all around. Then his mouth dropped open. Three dark figures were galloping across the ocean, their hooves kicking up splashes of water.

Hiccup looked up and let out a yelp, starting, when he saw one of the creatures directly in front of them, its nostirls flaring. It looked somewhat like a horse, but spines portruded from its neck, and sand streamed out of the back of its legs. It grinned wickedly and darted towards them, but Toothless let of a plasma blast, shattering it into thousands of peices of sand.

The other three screamed and galloped up into the air as soon as Toothless let out the blast. As Hiccup stared at the bizarre creatures, three more appeared, all galloping straight towards him.

Hiccup's stomach twisted, the breath flooding out of his lungs. _No, no no. It_ can't_ be. _A sudden cold flooded through his body as he realized these were the creatures that had haunted him each night. They were the creatures of his nightmares, and this one was all too real.

* * *

**A/N: Haha, cliffie! 'Cause I'm just mean like that.**


	3. Chapter 2: Tracking

_What do they want with us? Why are they here? What _are _they?_

The questions rang over and over in Hiccup's head. Toothless let out a vicious snarl at the creatures, and they slowed, but a few reared, pacing back and forth, their head held high. They seemed to be weighing the odds: would the six of them be able to overcome the dragon and his small rider?

Toothless didn't seem to want to wait and find out. He shot another plasma blast, and the horses scattered. One lingered a moment longer, it's amber eyes glaring at them.

_You may have won this battle, but beware. We will come back for you. _

"Ow!" Hiccup flinched and grabbed a clump of hair as the voice echoed through his head, along with a sharp sting of pain.

The creature turned and galloped away to be lost in the darkness. As soon as it was gone, Toothless turned and began speeding back to the island so fast Hiccup was barely ready for the sudden shift in tail position. By the time the reached the village the stars were fading and the horizon had just started to lighten. Hiccup barely made it up the stairs before he collapsed on his bed and into oblivion.

* * *

"Hiccup! For _the love of Thor _would yo_u wake up?!_"

Hiccup cracked an eye open, then scrambled back as he saw Ruff glaring at him, arms crossed.

"We've been waiting for you _for hours! _It's your turn to lead the Dragon Academy, and you never showed up! We thought Alvin had maybe kidnapped you again, and here you are, _sleeping!_"

"'M sorry, 'm sorry," Hiccup muttered, dragging himself out of bed. "I just had a... rough night, okay?" He felt ready to lay down on the floor and go straight back to sleep.

"Couldn't sleep?" Ruff looked like she wasn't ready to completely forgive him, she didn't look like she was ready to tear out his hair at any moment.

Hiccup debated for a moment whether to tell her about what happened last night, but put it off. He was still processing the strange events. "Yeah," he mumbled, rubbing at his eyes.

* * *

"So," Hiccup said to the assembled teens with their dragons, while racking his brain for ideas, "today we are going to... uh... practice tracking."

Everyone groaned. That is, everyone except for Fishlegs, who looked rather relieved.

"Really?" Snotlout burst out. "We've been waiting here for half the day and your only idea is _tracking?_ No races? No patroling for Outcasts? No target practice?"

"I, for one, think it's a pretty good idea," Fishlegs pitched in. "Tracking skills can be very useful in finding someone."

"Couldn't you just use your dragon?" Ruff yawned in boredom.

Hiccup stifled a yawn of his own. "Yeah, but what if you're separated from your dragon? We'll have our dragon go out across the island, and see if we can find them."

"Fair enough," Astrid shrugged.

The teens and their dragons headed out of the arena and to the edge of the woods. Then the dragons disappeared into the woods, while the teens sat down to wait.

"Tracking?" Ruff asked Hiccup. "Wow, you must be really tired."

"Went on a midnight flight with Toothless, and lost track of time," Hiccup mumbled, his eyes already starting to drift shut.

Ruff poked him. "Wake up!" she teased.

"Go pick on someone else."

Sometime later, they headed out, Hiccup telling them the basics of what they should be looking for. Broken branches, prints, smeared moss... anything that looked as if it had been recently disturbed.

Stepping into the forest, Hiccup soon found a Night Fury print and began following the trail. However, he soon realized that practicing tracking wasn't one of his best ideas. At first the trail seemed clear enough, but as time went on, he became less and less sure he wasn't just wandering in circles.

Hiccup groaned, and ran a hand through his hair, before trudging on. The hot sun beat down upon his back, and sweat soaked his hair. His throat was dry, and he wished he had brought a water skin with. He wondered if the others were having any luck.

Grumbling in frustration, the teenager pushed his way though a tangle of bushes, and tripped over something. Looking back he saw that he had tripped over a small crack that split the ground. Beside it was several hoofprints.

Hiccup's heart leaped. There were no horses on the island, so how could there be hoofprints unless _Spirit_ had returned? It had been over a year since the stallion had left, but Hiccup missed him greatly.

"Spirit?" he called out, but heard no answer. He followed the hoofprints, but came across something that made him shiver. A pile of black sand was spread out in a perfect circle. Hiccup stared at it for a moment and knelt down to touch it, but at that moment, Toothless came bursting out of the trees. The dragon's pupils were narrowed to slits, and he was breathing heavily.

"Easy boy," Hiccup exclaimed. "What scared you so bad?"

Toothless simply looked at him and growled uneasily.


	4. Chapter 3: Lost

Hiccup's feet shuffled under the table as he sat and picked at the plate of food in front of him. Four weeks. Four weeks and he had heard nothing of his father and the group of men he had brought for the short voyage. Stoick had said he'd be back in two. His predictions were usually correct.

The nightmares hadn't stopped either. The only think he could remember from them was the black horses with their glowing eyes. Three nights after his encounter with them, their screams still echoed through his dreams. Hiccup had taken to sleeping next to Toothless, but the bare rock, and the dragon's body heat made things uncomfortable.

Hiccup looked up, but didn't say anything as Ruff came over to sit by him. "Still worried about your dad?" she asked.

"Yeah," Hiccup muttered, pushing the plate towards her. She took it without complaint, and immediately began eating.

"Trader Johann might know somethin'," Ruff said, then bit off some yak meat. "But then again, all he's been talking about since he got here is people getting kidnapped via sandstorm."

Hiccup's heart stopped for a second. "Sand?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," Ruff snorted, "crazy, right? Whoever heard of being _kidnapped_ by sand? And in the middle of the _woods_, no less."

Hiccup jumped up so quickly he almost tripped over the bench. "Where is he?" he demanded.

"Uh... still by his boat, I think. Oh come on! Don't tell me you believe that stuff!"

But Hiccup was already gone, pushing past the doors of the Great Hall and towards the docks below.

* * *

"And there he was... RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!"

Hiccup arrived just as Trader Johann was finishing his tale. The gathered Vikings groaned and slowly dispersed, carrying the various items they had bought or traded.

"Ah, Hiccup, m' boy!" Johann said, turning to Hiccup. "I've got just the thing for you!"

"News from my dad?" Hiccup asked breathlessly.

Johann's face fell. "Actually no," he admitted. "And it's funny; I was sure I would have crossed paths with them."

A queasiness started rising in Hiccup's stomach and he gulped it down, before clearing his throat. The ocean seemed to become more uneasy, their waves lapping over each other and spraying into the air. "I heard you had... um, an encounter with... kidnapping, and... sand?"

"Oh no, not me. I'm only passing on the tale. Everywhere I go, it's the same terrible story. People are woken in the night by strange noises. Those foolish enough go to investigate. A few moments after they leave, a scream rips through the night. Others run forward, but the person is gone. Nothing left but sand, scattered all over the ground." Johann shuddered. "I get chills every time I tell the tale."

Hiccup nodded. "Thanks. That's all I wanted to hear." As he slowly walked away, thoughts of what Johann said ran over and over in his head. What was with this sand? Did it have something to do with his father's absence? Was Johann even telling the truth? The man wasn't necessarily a liar, but he had a tendency to... stretch the truth a bit when it came to storytelling. A few days ago Hiccup would have brushed the story off as nothing, but now...

The questions crowded in his mind, and he turned them over and over until something inside him seemed to snap. Hiccup looked at the sun. It was almost midday, the sun high above the horizon. The tribe Stock and some of his men had gone to meet was most likely only half a day's journey away, if he took Toothless. He needed information, perhaps there he could find some.

Hiccup found Toothless rolling in a field of dragon-nip. The dragon purred loudly as he inhaled the sweet scent, and Hiccup couldn't help but smile

as he set down the small bag of food. The dragon rose to his feet and shook off the bits of grass as Hiccup walked up and gave him a scratch on the neck. "What do you say?" he asked Toothless. "Willing to go look for my dad?"

"What are you up to now, Hiccup?" an exasperated voice asked.

Hiccup froze, then turned around to see Astrid staring at him, hands on her hips. "You know Spitelout said no flying outside the island."

"I'm going to the tribe my father visited to see if they know anything," Hiccup confessed. "I can't stand being here any longer, not knowing for any longer. It's just... so many weird things are going on," Hiccup muttered. "If I can't find anything after two days I'll come back. But I have to try."

"Try not to get into trouble," Astrid groaned as he hopped on Toothless.

"You're beginning to sound like me," Hiccup said, but his hands trembled slightly as they gripped onto the saddle. _Two days, _he told himself. _What could go wrong?_

* * *

A few hours later Hiccup wished he hadn't asked that question. He had decided to take a short cut, and was now sorely regretting the decision. For as they left the ocean behind them and soared inland, the air slowly clogged with fog. The wet air soaked his clothes and hair, and Toothless was constantly shaking his head because of the water droplets running down his face. The ground, from what Hiccup could make out, was rugged and mountainous, and he couldn't spot a suitable place to land. Maybe they could find a town, and Hiccup could ask where they were.

As he looked down again, he was fascinated by the landscape both below and before him. A vast amount of trees covered the slopes, making it look as if the mountain had grown a fur of pines, then, at a certain line, they all disappeared, and the mountain was bare and brown once more. In the valleys between the mountains, waterfalls poured into the streams below.

Just then, a scream resounded to his right. It sounded exactly like the black horses he had seen the night he had gone flying with Toothless. Hiccup whipped his head are around to see a flash of black, before it vanished back into the mist. His eyes searched all around, his legs tense and ready to run.

"This time I know it's not a dream," Hiccup muttered, before urging Toothless to go faster. The dragon was only too happy to do so.

Soon he saw another black flash, and then another, and then... The horses poured out of the mist all around the boy and his dragon, surrounding them. For a moment, Hiccup stared at them, staring but not seeing. His limbs shook. The horses seemed to sense his fear, for many neighed loudly, and grinned at him wickedly.

_Did we not say we would come back for you?_

"Down, Toothless there's too many of them!" Hiccup snapped out of his trance. Toothless swooped down, and the horses, the _nightmares_, gave chase.

_Maybe we can lose them in the fog,_ Hiccup thought to himself desperately. He felt sick, and for once he wished it were a nightmare instead of real.

Suddenly, Toothless screeched. Caught unaware, Hiccup felt himself flung from Toothless' back and smash into something. It was almost too quick to hurt. Almost.

* * *

"Toothless," Hiccup muttered groggily, cracking open his eyes. Perhaps it had been all a dream. Perhaps he was curled up beside the dragon once more, safe at home...

_"Toothless!"_ Hiccup bolted to his feet, then fell back against the wall. He was on a small pathway that jutted out from the side of the mountain. He and Toothless must have crashed into it because of their reckless flight and the fog. Hiccup looked down the steep mountain slope, but he could see no trace of the dragon, though he could see the claw scrapings against the stone.

_Oh no. No, no, no. Could he... could he have made it? Oh no, this is all my fault._

Hiccup quickly began trying to make his way down the mountain, though his head ached furiously. The fog had cleared, but Hiccup could see the sun was almost touching the horizon. At first, there was only rock, but as he went downward, it grew more and more forested. Then, suddenly, he came across a dark hole in he ground. It looked deep, but with the oncoming darkness, he couldn't make anything else of it.

"Toothless, please be alright," Hiccup whispered as he curled up under a pine, hugging his arms around his body. Everything was going wrong, and he seemed to only be making things worse. "Please be okay."

* * *

_"Hiccup!"_

_Someone was calling him. Hiccup tried to look around, tried to move forward, bit he couldn't. He felt nothing, saw nothing. He only heard._

_"Hiccup! Help me! Get me out of here!"_

_Hiccup opened his mouth to speak, but found he had none. He was simply nothingness. So, he instead, listened. _

_"Please, it's so dark, so dark and cold. I don't know where I am."_


End file.
